FROM THIS EPISODE

President Obama has reversed course on helping Syrian rebels, but advocates of intervention insist it's too little too late. We look at the consequences of possible options. Also, the G8 Summit, where spying and Syria are getting more play than free trade. On Reporter's Notebook, Barack Obama has won bigger victories than any President since Dwight Eisenhower, but is he a real "politician?"

Banner image: A Free Syrian Army fighter is seen behind sandbags in the Mouazafeen neighborhood in Deir al-Zor, June 14, 2013. Photo: Khalil Ashawi/Reuters

At the G8 Summit in Northern Ireland, Syria has been high on the agenda. Russia's President Putin says he's opposed to any aid to the rebels, and described them as "those who kill their enemies and eat their organs" meeting with Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron. Hans Nichols is in Enniskillen for Bloomberg News.

Syria tops the agenda as Presidents Obama and Putin meet at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland. After months of non-involvement, the US has promised some rebels small arms and ammunition, to be coordinated by General Salim Idriss, who heads the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army. But the rebels say they still don't know what to expect. Here at home, advocates of intervention accuse Obama of being led by events, while supporters say the situation is too uncertain to formulate policy goals. If Bashar al Assad stays in power, what are the consequences for Syria and the rest of the Middle East? Is it too late to force him to negotiate in good faith?

Barack Obama is the first President since Dwight Eisenhower to win 50 percent of the vote, both for election and re-election. But, for all that, Obama doesn't like politics and doesn't think of himself as a politician. The President is missing the "schmooze gene," a defining characteristic of political animals, according to Jonathan Alter, author of The Center Holds: Obama and His Enemies.